[wisb] Milwaukee Lakefront - Two new BIGBY species, plus info on orange-collared goose

From: "B.G. Sloan" <bgsloan2@xxxxxxxxx>
To: wisbirdn <wisbirdn@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, 18 Oct 2010 17:52:44 -0700 (PDT)
Spent some time along Milwaukee's lakefront yesterday (10/17) and today 
(10/18). Picked up two new Milwaukee walking BIGBY species, bringing the total 
to 155 species. In the process, I came up with a catchy name I'm going to start 
using for this BIGBY category: MilWALKee BIGBY. :-)

Some highlights:

* Horned Lark. MilWALKee BIGBY species #154. There were a number of these birds 
in Lakeshore State Park on Sunday. Several at the south end of the park on the 
large shoreline rocks and in the grass. And a flock of 10-15 birds flew over 
the park headed due east. As the flock got out over the harbor they made an 
abrupt u-turn and headed back towards shore. It was like it suddenly dawned on 
them that there was nothing ahead of them except open water.

* I finally got close enough to the orange-collared Canada Goose in Veterans 
Park to be able to read the alpha-numeric code on the collar (U7F5). After a 
little poking around, I found a website where one can report such information 
(see: http://bit.ly/ahPeeo). Theoretically, the banders are supposed to get 
back to you and let you know when and where the bird was banded. We'll see.

* Later in the day I visited Schlitz Audubon Nature Center to look for turkeys. 
It was a nice day, with lots of people walking the trails, but no turkeys. But 
as I left SANC, three turkeys crossed the road in front of me! Now if I could 
just get turkeys as MilWALKee BIGBY birds...

* Watched an interesting crow/gull interaction today. The gull was picking at a 
fish that washed up on Bradford Beach. The crow would sneak up behind the gull 
and yank on a tail feather. The gull would turn around and then the crow would 
do a little "dance" in front of the gull. Then the gull would turn its 
attention back to the fish. The crow would then yank a tail feather again. This 
process was repeated over and over. The crow looked like it was having a 
playfully good time, and the gull acted like an irritated crotchety old codger. 
(For those of you who know fish, can you tell me the kind of fish the gull was 
picking at? See: http://bit.ly/dgb4wj. The fish was about three feet long).

* For the first time this season (for me) there was a nice raft of ducks in 
Lake Michigan off of Bradford Beach. They were just close enough to show some 
tantalizing field marks, yet just far enough away to frustrate me when it came 
to positive IDs. Sometimes I thought I saw some Redheads. Other times I thought 
I saw Scaup species. But I'm pretty confident with one ID. Several times I saw 
a blackish duck flap its wings and reveal the white wing patch of a 
White-winged Scoter. Don't know if it was just one bird or several. MilWALKee 
BIGBY species #155. This is also species #199 for my 2010 "combo" BIGBY list! 
(What's a "combo" BIGBY? See: http://bit.ly/a2HhKW). Wonder what my 2010 200th 
combo BIGBY species will be?

Bernie Sloan
Milwaukee


      
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[wisb] Milwaukee Lakefront - Two new BIGBY species, plus info on orange-collared goose

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